I've had the standard tires that came with my Roubaix RC for 7 months and averaged about 50 miles of riding a week, but I've started to flat about every other ride now for the last month. As I was starting to replace yet another tube, I noticed a couple of places where gravel had punctured through the tire. So I headed over to Perfomance after work yesterday to buy some new rubber.

I chose a set of Continental Ultra GatorSkins since I'll be starting to commute to work next week and liked the sounds of Kevlar protection from road debris like gravel and glass. They were on sale for $34.95 and with the member points I had accrued it worked out to be about $27 each. I figured "you get what you pay for"... and I'm tired of having to stop and change a flat every other ride.

I took the new tires out for a quick one hour spin this morning at 6:00 a.m. before work. Aside from a slightly stiffer ride (which I probably wouldn't have noticed if the guy at Performance hadn't told me the ride might feel a little stiffer) they felt about the same. But it felt good knowing that I had some serious protection from gravel and glass underneath me.

The Performance guy also commutes about 15 miles a day and uses Gatorskins, and he claimed he has never had a flat with them - thanks to their Kevlar lining. I figure if Kevlar can stop a bullet then it should laugh at glass and gravel.